Lowell health-center project meets a great need

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
10/08/2012 06:35:33 AM EDT

LOWELL -- I've watched with great interest the huge undertaking by the dedicated people at Lowell Community Health Center who are nearing completion of a $42 million reinvestment to improve their ability to provide quality health services to more than 50,000 in Greater Lowell.

Through the whole process I have marveled at their courage to undertake a project of this size in the middle of our lingering recession.

Led by Dorcas Grigg-Saito, who has become a revered citizen of Lowell, the Community Health Center has built an agency that provides health services to many people who had no other option.

Grigg-Saito's calm demeanor belies her fierce determination to make health care available to all.

The new center is less than 80 days away from opening. They are down to crunch time in securing the last $1.5 million needed to complete the project and to secure $600,000 in pledges from two foundations. The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, based in Chestnut Hill, pledged $500,000 and the Parker Foundation pledged another $100,000. Both are matching grants tied to the Health Center hitting its goal.

The Parker Foundation has had ties to Lowell for decades, as its founders were Lowell residents. They have generously supported a number of causes in the city.

The Smith Family Foundation generally supports causes in Greater Boston with a specific help for disadvantage youth programs and projects that improve ways of providing improved health care for future generations.

Advertisement

It's significant that the Smith Foundation has chosen the Lowell project with a half-million dollars of support. Lynn Doblin, executive director of the foundation, says the foundation board was impressed with what they saw in a number of ways.

The foundation, she said, sees real value in the health center that provides quality care at a low cost.

She said they saw the Lowell project as very worthy and that it marks the first time they have approved a health-center project outside Greater Boston.

The trustees saw it not only as a worthy health-care plan, but as an economic stimulus to the city of Lowell, wonderful reuse of old mill buildings and the opportunity to create good jobs in an urban environment.

Doblin called it an exciting opportunity. She said she was extremely impressed with the leadership and staff at the center. She feels the donation from the Smith Foundation will have a ripple effect on health care for more people, on the reuse of the old mill, on construction and permanent jobs and the general economy of Lowell. She is thrilled that the trustees gift will have a huge impact. She hopes others will come forward for what she called a very worthy project that meets a huge need.

Maura Smith, director of development and community relations for Lowell Health Center, says the agency has been operating in Lowell for 40 years and this marks the first time it has asked the community for financial support.

"And the good news is nearly 1200 individual donors have come forward to invest in the community's health," she adds.

Smith said it's inspiring to see how much people care about the community and to know that so many believe that quality health care is a basic human right.

She continues to invite local residents and regional foundations to participate in this once in a lifetime community effort and has her fingers crossed that everyone who cares for Lowell will step up before the December deadline.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.